When planning the topics I want to talk about this year, it became apparent to me that I need to tackle the primary issue of why travel.
Why do people travel? Why should we travel? And what’s so special about cultural travel in 2012?
Well, you’re here visiting my website, so most likely you are already a person who is interested in travel.
Either you’ve traveled before, or you wish you could travel someday, or you’ve traveled but wish you could travel more.
By now I bet you’ve realized that my kind of travel has little to do with partying and just lying about on a beach and more with discovering places that have a meaning to people, that have either played a big part in their history, or that inspire them somehow.
Not that there’s anything wrong with just vegging out at some breathtaking beach, I’ve done it and enjoyed it.
But what most inspires me and uplifts my spirit is to visit a place full of history and wonder, to know that many people before me have been on that very same spot witnessing history being made or making history, creating art, influencing our world today.
Travel in 2012 and history?
Here’s the deal. What we are today is in large part the result of past events. And we live today the consequences of decisions and facts that other people made in the past.
When I say “past” I mean as far back as thousands of years!
There’s a reason why our world is the way it is today, why there’s violence, why there’s prejudice, why there’s ignorance, why there’s lack of tolerance…
It seems to me that some of us refuse to learn the lessons of the past. It is my belief that most of today’s problems come from ignorance still in all cultures and in every corner of the planet.
I mean, every time we make a nasty comment about someone else, someone from a different race or culture, someone with a different way to live life, someone who challenges our beliefs, we are ignorants and we spread that ignorance around.
In my opinion, one of the best ways to overcome this ignorance is to learn about history, science, art and culture, learn about how things happened and how we got to be where we are today.
And to bring all that history alive, nothing better than to visit the actual places, wouldn’t you agree?
Nerdy travel
I have always been considered a nerd by everybody, people look at me as if I had two heads when I tell them that one of my favorite visits to New York is the American Museum of Natural History, just because I love to see dinosaurs, see them in person and compare my size to theirs, imagine how they roamed the Earth hunting, picturing in my mind the vibration on the floor with each of their steps.
Or that I can’t wait to visit the Brandenburg Gate and imagine what it must have been like back in November 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, the excitement and exhilaration right on that spot and all the people just waiting to see what would happen next.
Or walk on the Inca trails in Perú and visualize Incas running around on the steep terraces on the mountains, as if they never feared the altitude and the precipice below.
And to me, learning about the history and culture of a place ahead of time, really brings the place to life when I’m visiting and is a must-do before going anywhere, otherwise you risk misinterpreting or missing the whole point of the experience.
Sometimes you visit a city like Rome, where you find layers upon layers of history and events from thousands of years ago until today, going through some of the most important periods of the human experience like the Renaissance or World War II.
Sometimes you go to a place like London, old and modern at the same time, shaped by religious wars, still full of culture from all over the planet.
And they all have something to offer, something to learn.
Is travel a responsibility?
Travel to me is about overcoming ignorance in order to create a better world.
Even if you’re a professor of politics, philosophy, art or history, your knowledge is seriously limited if you haven’t traveled.
When you travel, you become a different person, you learn to appreciate human life more, with our differences and the things that bring us together.
You learn that we humans are all the same, we all have problems, we all have tragedies but we all have the potential and the creativity to rise above them.
Abroad, you will be able to experience the kindness of people willing to help you out when you don’t speak their language or when you don’t know where the heck you’re going.
You will see how much we strive for the same things, for a more fulfilling life, for the gift of putting food on the table for our children, for the curiosity of the interactions with people that are not from around here, for happiness and peace.
As I mentioned in my post about the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., it is our duty as citizens of the world to learn as much as we can and to propagate that knowledge so that we can bring more light, more tolerance, more progress and more understanding to our conflict-ridden world of today.
It is so enlightening to understand how the Napoleonic wars affected Latin America, how Christianity and Catholicism have shaped Italy, how the Khmer Rouge defined the Cambodia we can visit today, why the Civil Rights Movement in the US instigated so many protests in major cities like Washington D.C.
To be there, standing on the very same places these events happened, is amazing to me and helps me recognize our role in the world today.
Why travel in 2012?
Well, why not travel in 2012? Why not travel today, right now? How about packing a suitcase and finding a cheap airline ticket somewhere new in the world?
Stop being a couch potato, stop wishing you could, believe me, you can! And it’s easier that you’d expect! If you’re scared, just do it, I guarantee you won’t regret it.
If money is an issue, well, just make a decision, find a way, you can do this!
This is your year, this is your chance, do it today!
We need to start multiplying a message of peace and human kindness and unity now. This is our responsibility today. Plus, traveling is just so much fun!
If the Maya misinterpretation of the future happenings that will take place on December 21st this year (or is it May?) is correct (which I don’t believe it is) then, we still need to travel and see the planet now, before it’s too late!
So how about you? Why do you travel? What is travel about for you?
Why do you wish you could travel more?
Share your comments in the field below!
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